The laws reshaping California housing.
Sacramento has quietly demolished a lot of the barriers to building. We track the bills that matter for ADUs, infill subdivision, and multifamily — and what they mean for actual projects on the ground. Updated as new laws take effect.
Up to 8 detached ADUs on a multifamily lot. 60-day ministerial clock. No parking replacement.
The bill that rewrote multifamily ROI in California. If you own a duplex, fourplex, or small apartment building, this is the law our calculator was built for — and the reason we engineered Clever Elements.
Run the SB 1211 calculator2026 legislative session
New & recently effectiveTransit-oriented upzoning, statewide.
Overrides local height and density limits near major transit stops in eight urban counties (LA, OC, SD, SF, Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sacramento). Mid- and high-density housing allowed by-right when affordability and labor standards are met. Transit agencies can also zone their own land.
Read moreInfill CEQA exemption.
Two budget trailer bills that created a powerful new CEQA exemption for qualifying infill housing — plus a 'near-miss' streamlining for projects that fall just outside the exemption. The most significant CEQA reform for housing in a decade.
Read more15-day ADU clock — or deemed complete.
Local agencies have 15 business days to issue a completeness determination on an ADU application. Miss the deadline and the application is automatically deemed complete. Resubmittals are limited to items in the original deficiency list.
Read moreCoastal ADUs — 60 days, no Coastal Commission appeals.
Local agencies with a certified Local Coastal Program must approve or deny ADU Coastal Development Permits within 60 days, with no Coastal Commission appeals. Plus a disaster-zone carve-out: a detached ADU can receive a CofO before the destroyed primary dwelling is rebuilt.
Read moreJADU owner-occupancy + parking, narrowed.
Owner-occupancy on JADUs only required when sharing a bathroom with the primary home. No parking standards may be imposed on ADUs of 500 sq ft or less. And JADUs are now barred from short-term rental use.
Read moreSB 9 lot splits, now in historic districts.
Extends SB 9 ministerial lot splits and two-unit developments to parcels inside historic districts — as long as the project doesn't alter or demolish a designated historic resource. Opens a meaningful new pool of urban infill lots.
Read moreEarlier reforms still in play
The 2026 changes stack on top of these — most ADU and density-bonus projects rely on more than one bill.
Small-lot subdivision, by-right.
SB 684 (effective Jul 2024) lets developers split multifamily, mixed-use, and commercial-zoned land into up to 10 small lots and build up to 10 for-sale homes — ministerially, no CEQA, with a 60-day parcel map clock. SB 1123 (effective Jul 2025) extends the same process to vacant single-family lots.
Read moreSell your ADU as a condo.
Cities can opt in to let homeowners sell ADUs separately from the main house, as condos. About a dozen cities have adopted it so far — including San Jose, Berkeley, and Oakland. Changes the financing model for homeowner ADUs.
Read moreLegalize unpermitted ADUs.
Extends the safe-harbor amnesty for unpermitted ADUs and JADUs built before 2020. Local agencies must approve the legalization unless the unit is a verified life-safety hazard — a major win for older multifamily stock.
Read moreSB 9 with the loopholes closed.
Strengthens the original SB 9 by removing local 'objective standards' workarounds, mandating ministerial review on lot splits and duplexes, and forcing cities to publish written denials with a 60-day appeal clock.
Read moreADU cleanup — fewer reasons to deny.
Limits the grounds on which a local agency can deny an ADU permit, tightens the 60-day clock, and clarifies that front-setback ADUs can't be blanket-banned. The bill we cite when a city tries to slow-walk a project.
Read moreDensity bonus, doubled.
Lets developers stack a second density bonus on top of the first when adding very-low-income or moderate-income units. Effective bonus can hit 100% on top of base zoning — meaningful for missing-middle projects.
Read moreTalk to our team.
We'll tell you which of these laws apply to your property, run the numbers, and lay out what to do next.
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